Ashlee a 'wow' at Wal-Mart

BY EDEN LAIKIN | eden.laikin@newsday.com

February 26, 2008

Attention Wal-Mart shoppers: Ashlee Simpson is in the building.

The pop star made her way down the snack aisle of the Farmingdale discount retailer last night, with a crowd of girls age 9 to 19 shrieking and chanting her name.

Mothers and daughters climbed over one another to get a shot of the thin, uncomfortable-looking Simpson, who stopped for photos in front of the store's pharmacy counter.

"There's so much love here," Simpson said of Long Island.

The sister of singer Jessica Simpson was in town to sign copies of her CD single, "Outta My Head" - a Wal-Mart exclusive selling for about $1.96. Next week, Simpson will do CD signings at Wal-Marts in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and Miami.

Winners of a Z-100 contest were among about 500 or 600 young people who came to the store to meet Simpson yesterday.

Alexa Barbieri, 10, of Lynbrook, was first in line, having been at the store with her cousin, Sabrina Barbieri, 19, since noon. While there, the cousins bought a bear and made a T-shirt for it with the name of Simpson's newest single, "Little Miss Obsessive." Shortly after 8 p.m., Alexa finally got to present the bear to Simpson and have the pop star sign a CD single.

"She was really, really, really nice - and so pretty," said Alexa, who will add the autograph to a collection she has that includes Paris Hilton, Hilary Duff and "American Idol" finalist Katharine McPhee.

The red-haired Simpson will be back on Long Island Thursday for a special guest performance at Mirage in Westbury.

Her new CD, "Bittersweet World," comes out April 15, her Web site said.